Tunisia

by Dr Mustafa Fetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – Just over a decade ago, Tunisia was the brightest light of the Arab Spring—the rare case where mass protest led to a peaceful transition and hopes for real democracy. Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in 2010 triggered a revolution that toppled Ben Ali’s regime and inspired uprisings […]

Featured

Why are Tunisia’s Relations with Iran Warming Up?

Mohamed Jegham

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Tunisia’s President Kais Said has strengthened relations between Tunisia and Iran are to an unprecedented level. Tunisia, in response to Iran’s announcement of visa waivers for 28 countries including Tunisia, has also lifted visa requirements for Iranian nationals. Tunisia is one of the few majority Sunni Muslim countries […]

Algeria

The Middle East Ranks at the Bottom of Gallup’s Happiness Index, except for Rich Oil States; is the US to Blame?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual Gallup report on happiness by country came out this week. It is based on a three-year average of polling. What struck me in their report is how unhappy the Middle East is. The only Middle Eastern country in the top twenty is Kuwait (for the first time in […]

Arab Spring

Why, Despite the Arab Spring and Mass Protests of the 2010s, People Got the Opposite of What they Wanted

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution (New York: PublicAffairs, 2023). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – At the end of 2019, there was no shortage of articles looking retrospectively at the events that had shaped the decade of the 2010s. One of them was aptly titled “A […]

Feminism

Why have Tunisia’s Women won so many more Rights than those in Iran?

Mohamed Jegham

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment) – To many foreign onlookers, Tunisia and Iran share many common qualities; Both countries are mostly Muslims and both are considered third world countries that have been influenced by western powers, Tunisia with the French colonization and Iran with the British Empire influence. Yet, when it comes to women rights, […]

Africa

‘Life for black people in Tunisia 5 months after the President’s racist Speech has been incredibly Challenging’

Middle East Monitor

Amelia Smith amyinthedesert ( Middle East Monitor ) – When Tarek Tookebry began raising funds to collect essential items for a humanitarian convoy to Tunisia’s second city, Sfax – where black Africans are being increasingly attacked and deported – the initial goal was to raise 10,000 Tunisian dinars ($3,300). As of Wednesday 12 […]

Africa

Tunisia: Crisis as Black Africans Expelled to Libya Border

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Tunis) – Tunisian security forces have collectively expelled several hundred Black African migrants and asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women, since July 2, 2023 to a remote, militarized buffer zone at the Tunisia–Libya border, Human Rights Watch said today. The group includes people with both regular and irregular legal […]

Algeria

France’s Double Uprising: Will the Earth be Habitable; Will France be Habitable for People of Color?

Waging Nonviolence

By Nicolas Haeringer | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – On June 27, Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French boy of North African descent was murdered by a white police officer in a Parisian suburb. Since then, anger has erupted almost everywhere in the country, especially in poor neighborhoods. Young people are taking to the streets to […]

Authoritarianism

Tunisia: Move to Dismantle Country’s Largest Opposition Party

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch ) – (Tunis) – Tunisian authorities have intensified their attack on opponents of President Kais Saied’s 2021 power grab, moving to neutralize the country’s largest political party, Ennahda, Human Rights Watch said today. Since December 2022, the Tunisian government has arrested at least 17 current or former members of the party, […]